Santa Fe (unofficial) Big Loop
Big Loops in Santa Fe
Not much time to type these things up anymore, but here goes;
After a sleepless July 4th / Friday night, where here in the barrio celebrations include drinking from sun up to well after sun down, and of course, a series of local fireworks 'displays' - I still felt OK - at least enough so to try and tackle the most wicked ride I've ever tried: The Santa Fe chapter in the NMES (New Mexico Endurance Series) book of events, aka Mighty Matt's legacy of torture and the "crown jewel" of the seres.
I apologize for having to start, unofficially, prior to the more formal gangs' departure. No sign ins, no sign outs - just a guy, his bike, and a stopwatch. No GPS receiver, no maps, no HR monitor, PowerTap, or SRM crankset to track progress. How refreshing, and bold, and daring! I did coordinate some feed drops with 2 other friends, so that at strategic points (the ski basin, and the base of Pacheco Canyon Rd) we'd have fuel to top off the tanks and venture on.
I know all the trails, connectors, creek crossings, and pavement stretches like the back of my hand - as the course is most everything I ride from here in town anyhow - though I'd never attempt such a monstrous ride outside some sort of semi/organized adventure. Prepped the Yeti ASR, loaded up and charged the iPod, stuffed my jersey pockets, and hit the road in near-darkness. I was as ready as I could be - despite not having any rides over 3-4 hours in the last 6 months, I've had some good shorter / harder efforts with the crack crew on Tuesday / Thursday mornings (one of these hammers set what I believe will be a benchmark that stands for a long, long time - more on that sub-story later).
I spun over to 2nd Street Brewery, the official start/finish locale, punched the start button on my stopwatch and turned east, heading towards the first challenge of the day - Atalya Mountain. 1700 feet of climbing (so they tell me) up some of the steepest, most sustained, and nasty single-track in all of Santa Fe! Oof. Then down the backside via Dale Ball Trails south to Dale Ball Trails Central to Hyde Park Road. Chandler had indeed built an impressive cairn at the key intersection - which made it impossible to miss now. This first stretch was a real eye opener! I hit the pavement in some minutes over two hours. Ouch! Slow start - but lot's more to come. Notable was a minor crash on the last part of the descent, where a branch reached out and stabbed my right shin - causing me to over-react and biff off the opposite side of the trail. Doh! No real harm done. I just HATE the freaking Mike Wirtz style trail work / construction here in 'town', as it's usually too tight, too close, too off camber, prone to tree attacks (like this one) and generally executed half-assed. I must send him a copy of the IMBA Trail Solutions Handbook....
Anyhow - onward and upward!
About 3.5 miles up the pavement, the real fun begins. Climbing Chamisa is certain to blow any residual carbon out of the engine, as the first 3/10th's of a mile go straight up. It sort of eases up and becomes more fun, and is a textbook example of how to build trails in Santa Fe. Perfect, flowing, beautiful single-track that quickly gets one away from civilization. I was going even slower then I thought I would - as my stomach seemed atypically unsettled. Bleh. Not good. I did know there would be a chemical toilet later on, up the mountain - and hoped to make it to there. Of course, it then occurred to me that I should have packed some TP! I never really have 'that' problem - so I never thought about it. At the saddle - 1/2 way in Chamisa, the intersection for Serpant taunted me, as if to say "see you in 5-6 hours, and I'll kick yer ass when you're really thrashed"! I'm sure it will, but in the meantime - bombing down the backside of Chamisa is always fun, and I felt great at the bottom.
Climbing Winsor was nice, and I started picking up the pace just slightly. By the time I got to Big T campground, I felt that if I rode the next stretch of trail smart, I'd hit Aspen Vista and kick up the pace a bit more. I stopped at the toilets - but alas, no TP - so I figured I'd check in at the next set - at the base of the ski area, in a little while. The trail that climbs up and out of the campground is another nasty piece of work. Huffin' through it, I got to the road a little more spent than I'd have liked to have been - but so it goes.
Once on Aspen Vista, I tried upping the pace - but my stomach said NO. So I rode easy middle ring the whole way, and hit Tesuque Peak, at the pin - in about 4 hours and 30 minutes. Pretty lame! Ah well.... next time. Had a snack, drank some drink, then unlocked all the suspension systems for the rippin' 2000 foot descent through the ski area. Hit the bottom and felt good then! Adrenaline will do that.
Found drop point #1, loaded up with pack (a rarity for me) and hit the next section; Rio en Medio to Aspen Ranch to Boreggo to Rancho Viejo. I was more conservative than usual on the nasty parts of the descents - fearing for my well being - and my sidewalls! The recent rains have absolutely hammered a lot of the trails - which looked more like drainage ravines than single-track now. Amazing how things can change in a few short weeks. The little climb out of Rio en Medio was a mud bog of cow poop and greasy trail. Mmmmmmm..... Once above the irrigation ditch that peels off WAY up here, it got nice. REAL nice! Coming down into Aspen Ranch, and out/up Boreggo was great. Things started clicking, and the stomach settled down some. Blazing through the cool dark woods on these remote and primitive trails is pure joy. Hit the creek crossings and steep climbs they signaled with a big old smile on my face. Climbing the last, hard ridable climb of the day - after Nambe River - I even felt good. The last long, meandering descent into the Capulin Drainage was fantastic - and I really felt good, picking the right lines, hopping over some of the trees that were down, and generally railing the faster parts - sidewalls be damned!
Coming down through the meadow was joy - and as close to Wilderness us two-wheeled freaks are allowed. The trail was great, the temps were perfect, and it finally occurred to me that wow! How come no one has caught me yet?
I had to foot it across the next two creek crossings, and once I was about a 1/4 mile up trail 179 (seriously nasty hike-a-bike) I heard squealing Marta's in the distance. Ah well - hopefully it was my good buddy Chandler! He was due anytime now, and was naturally right on time. Once getting through the hike-a-bike portion, I cranked away up and over the first of two ridges that meant we were headed back to Rio en Medio - and on the flowy fun trails I heard a pop / wshhhhwshhhwshhhhhhhh from the rear..... that signaled tire destruction. I aired her up, rode on, but no-go. A small tear in the sidewall required a tube - but no boot, thankfully - and it was when I was about 1/2 way through the repair that a spry Chandler rounded a corner and said "hey"! Checking to make sure I was good to go, he was ready to move on - and I urged him so, as he was on fire - on the way to an 8ish hour time! Go man, go.
Got back to riding, and took it a tad bit easier.
By the time I rejoined Rio en Medio, I was feeling ready for the next, and last - leg. Rolled out through the 'town' of en Medio, over to Pacheco Canyon Road - and up about 1.5 miles to our refueling / drop zone #2. Saw Chandler as he was about to leave, dumped my pack, ate some Fritos, chugged a 16 oz. Starbucks Vanilla Frappucino and some water, restocked my bottles from the ice chest, and hit the climb after a 6 minute pit stop and one, big, burp.
I hit the climb at a good tempo, but holy smokes! It was HOT out. It was right around 1230PM and while there seemed to be clouds everywhere - there were none to cover these exposed dirt road portions. Ooof. I do fine in the dark. I do fine in the cold. Hell - I do fine in the dark cold! But this kind of heat sucks the life right out of me, right-quick. I drank a lot, and raced from shady spot to shady spot. After a few miles, the altitude and shade finally started cooling things off. On moderate climbing sections, I was pushing hard! It just started feeling good, finally. On steeper looser sections - it was easier to sit, spin, and focus - and push a biggish gear for being 8+ hours in. What a joy it was to see that brown Forest Service sign signaling the apex of this last long climb.
I absolutely tore-ass descending Winsor. Dodging cow poop and slowing for hikers - I hit the Chamisa climb in fair shape, and ground my way up to the saddle. That intersection sure looked different, and I have never dreaded a fun trail like Serpent like I did now. While there are no sustained climbs, there are some steep, rough punchy spots - and some treacherous descents. I made it through OK - but would note that this trail seems to have been annihilated by the recent rains, as it was now severely rutted compared to two weeks prior. Needs work asap.
The kicker was hitting Little Tesuque and knowing we had to climb up the pavement at Nuns Corner, on Hyde Park Road. Thankfully the clouds were gathering and offering some relief - and doing OK, I stood up and mashed the climb up and over the top. Feeling as good as I could - in that 'near end of the ride groove', I blew right by the Dale Ball turn off! Doh. I was almost to Gonzales Road when I relaized it, and mad as heck - stomped back up the hill to do this last bit. Blazing the bmx track like portion of Dale Ball Central was worth it - and I felt great down at Cerro Gordo.
Sort shell-shocked, I meandered via a very circuitous route through town back to Second Street. Ice cold coke, and a big old cheeseburger were calling! Rolling in just as it started spitting a little rain, I punched the 'stop' button 9 hours and 37 minutes later. Ooof. I had hoped to stay under 9 hours, but was stoked to have survived it anyhow. Even as Chandler 'faded' at the end, he was obviously on fire, as he clocked an official unofficial record of 8 hours and 15 minutes.
Sick.
Fast.
Someone needs to try and beat it. I suspect the first one that will top it, will in fact be Chandler himself - aiming for the sub 8 hour mark. I chowed down, had some cokes and a beer - but after an hour had to hit the road and get home. I was sorry to not have "seen" anyone - but new I must have kept a decent pace then anyhow. Got hailed on so that by the time I was home my bike and my sorry self were all rinsed off and refreshed. Had the chance to run some errands a short bit later and packed up Victor, my little dude, and we went to retrieve the stuff at the drop area. While I was on Pacheco Canyon Road this LAST time, in the car - I saw some fellow endurance nuts heading up the last climb, at around 4PM. Freakin' hard-core bad-ass! Ow. I offered up all the supplies we had left - and the ice cold cokes went FAST. Sounded like there had been some weather - but everyone was in good spirits. The mysterious water spigot back at en Medio / Chupadero Community Center proved easy to find (inside joke for some). It was a lot nicer with some cloud cover out on the climb- and I urged everyone on, including Tim and Mark - two serious bad-asses doing the whole she-bang on single speeds. Nuts.
I think I'll stick with shorter/harder workouts, as this endurance / all day in the saddle stuff is brutal - and takes me weeks to recover from with my low hours no-training training plan. For an apex to a sporadic season, there could not have been a better ride! If I 'do' another one, I'll start with the gang. For some pictures, see Rich's thread over at mtbr.com HERE. I could barely see straight, and thus did not take any shots at all.
glen
